1 00:00:04,909 --> 00:00:07,409 (dramatic music and gunfire) 2 00:00:07,411 --> 00:00:11,491 - [Narrator] May 5, 1865, the colonies' most wanted man, 3 00:00:11,490 --> 00:00:15,670 bushranger, Ben Hall, is surrounded by heavily armed 4 00:00:15,670 --> 00:00:19,680 police on the outskirts of Forbes, New South Wales. 5 00:00:21,310 --> 00:00:24,240 Within minutes he'll be dead. 6 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:26,890 But, the final moments of Hall's life 7 00:00:26,890 --> 00:00:29,060 are shrouded in mystery. 8 00:00:29,060 --> 00:00:31,980 Was Ben Hall a dangerous criminal, 9 00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:34,650 lawfully killed while trying to escape? 10 00:00:35,630 --> 00:00:38,250 Or as legend tells, did the police 11 00:00:38,250 --> 00:00:41,160 shoot Hall as he lay sleeping, 12 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:44,820 an act tantamount to cold blooded murder? 13 00:00:46,169 --> 00:00:48,749 (upbeat music) 14 00:00:53,100 --> 00:00:57,400 - Our nation's history is etched with bushranger tales, 15 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,390 stories of rebels and outlaws and those 16 00:01:00,390 --> 00:01:02,630 who fought against them. 17 00:01:02,630 --> 00:01:05,820 I'm a descendant of bushrangers and I really 18 00:01:05,820 --> 00:01:10,820 want to know just how true these epic tales really are. 19 00:01:11,370 --> 00:01:14,740 So come with me and a team of experts 20 00:01:14,740 --> 00:01:18,700 as we unearth the truth behind Australia's 21 00:01:18,700 --> 00:01:22,380 most infamous lawless legends. 22 00:01:24,878 --> 00:01:27,628 (dramatic music) 23 00:01:30,017 --> 00:01:32,567 ♪ You say I am a murderer ♪ 24 00:01:32,568 --> 00:01:35,318 ♪ You kill me in my sleep ♪ 25 00:01:35,318 --> 00:01:37,598 ♪ T'was you who loosed the darts of war ♪ 26 00:01:37,597 --> 00:01:40,977 ♪ Setting flame I'll keep ♪ 27 00:01:40,977 --> 00:01:43,737 ♪ Hide behind that policeman's badge ♪ 28 00:01:43,740 --> 00:01:47,390 ♪ And grip your judge's hand ♪ 29 00:01:47,388 --> 00:01:50,418 ♪ I'll hunt you down and cut you up ♪ 30 00:01:50,420 --> 00:01:54,670 ♪ We'll see whose judgment stands. ♪ 31 00:02:16,170 --> 00:02:20,490 - Before Ned Kelly there was Ben Hall, the young 32 00:02:20,490 --> 00:02:24,280 charismatic rock star of Australian bushrangers. 33 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,980 Some say he was responsible for between 100 34 00:02:27,980 --> 00:02:30,120 and 600 holdups. 35 00:02:35,030 --> 00:02:39,310 His legend tells of a young man driven to crime. 36 00:02:39,310 --> 00:02:42,760 Others say he simply made bad choices. 37 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,260 After three years of the most prolific 38 00:02:49,260 --> 00:02:52,510 crime spree in Australian colonial history, 39 00:02:53,590 --> 00:02:58,040 Ben Hall's bushranging career comes to an end 40 00:02:58,038 --> 00:03:01,988 at a place called Billabong Creek near Forbes, 41 00:03:01,990 --> 00:03:04,030 in central New South Wales. 42 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,760 He is 27 years old. 43 00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:13,080 (gentle music) 44 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,920 This farm paddock looks like all the others around it. 45 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:29,330 This particular one is a very special piece of land. 46 00:03:29,330 --> 00:03:32,770 For years this spot has been known 47 00:03:32,767 --> 00:03:36,227 as where Ben Hall died in a hail of bullets 48 00:03:36,230 --> 00:03:39,540 and this is the official kill site. 49 00:03:39,540 --> 00:03:41,970 It's right here where we're going to start 50 00:03:41,970 --> 00:03:45,380 our quest to find out what really happened. 51 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:53,730 The story goes that on the 5th of May, 1865, 52 00:03:53,730 --> 00:03:56,510 Ben Hall is on the run with a price 53 00:03:56,510 --> 00:03:59,460 on his head of 1000 pounds. 54 00:04:00,910 --> 00:04:03,340 Acting on a tipoff, a police party 55 00:04:03,340 --> 00:04:06,270 led by Sub Inspector, James Davidson, 56 00:04:06,270 --> 00:04:10,550 is directed straight to Ben Hall's camp. 57 00:04:10,550 --> 00:04:13,380 By early morning they have him surrounded. 58 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:19,380 Davidson says that Hall is armed and dangerous 59 00:04:21,260 --> 00:04:23,560 and he calls out for Hall to surrender, 60 00:04:25,410 --> 00:04:28,640 but the bushranger turns and runs. 61 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,210 Hall doesn't realize it, but he's actually 62 00:04:31,210 --> 00:04:34,160 running towards another group of Davidson's men 63 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,210 who were lying in wait. 64 00:04:36,205 --> 00:04:38,705 (guns firing) 65 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,360 By the end of the gunfire Hall's body 66 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:47,760 is riddled with bullets. 67 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,920 The police fire around 30 shots. 68 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,730 Davidson later claims they all hit their mark. 69 00:04:59,420 --> 00:05:01,540 But there's another version of this story 70 00:05:01,540 --> 00:05:03,930 fueled by myth and mystery. 71 00:05:07,090 --> 00:05:10,950 That the police tracker, Billy Dargin, shot Ben Hall 72 00:05:10,950 --> 00:05:14,020 in the middle of the night while he slept. 73 00:05:15,274 --> 00:05:17,914 (gun firing) 74 00:05:17,910 --> 00:05:21,130 And the police sprayed Hall's body with bullets 75 00:05:21,130 --> 00:05:24,120 to make it look like he was trying to escape. 76 00:05:24,116 --> 00:05:26,616 (guns firing) 77 00:05:31,740 --> 00:05:33,960 So, what really happened? 78 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,030 How exactly was Ben Hall killed? 79 00:05:37,030 --> 00:05:39,590 And was it a lawful shooting 80 00:05:39,590 --> 00:05:41,760 or a ruthless police coverup? 81 00:05:44,145 --> 00:05:47,925 The Lawless Team is here to begin searching for answers. 82 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,870 Historian, Dr. Kiera Lindsey is an author 83 00:05:52,870 --> 00:05:55,890 and scholar of Australian Colonial history. 84 00:05:56,750 --> 00:05:59,380 Professor Roger Byard is one of the country's 85 00:05:59,380 --> 00:06:01,790 leading forensic pathologists. 86 00:06:03,020 --> 00:06:07,210 Archeologist, Adam Ford, has led major excavations 87 00:06:07,214 --> 00:06:08,884 around the world. 88 00:06:12,390 --> 00:06:16,040 This site has never had a full scientific 89 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,140 investigation until now. 90 00:06:19,140 --> 00:06:21,620 The team's mission begins with taking 91 00:06:21,620 --> 00:06:25,070 a close look into the official police account 92 00:06:25,070 --> 00:06:26,700 of Ben Hall's death. 93 00:06:28,490 --> 00:06:29,660 Adam, where do you think we should start? 94 00:06:29,660 --> 00:06:32,730 - Well, we start with the primary source evidence 95 00:06:32,730 --> 00:06:35,420 and you can't get better than this document here 96 00:06:35,420 --> 00:06:38,320 which is a map that was drawn by Sub Inspector 97 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,110 Davidson almost immediately after the ambush 98 00:06:41,110 --> 00:06:42,400 and the death of Ben Hall. 99 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,080 And it describes in incredible detail 100 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,270 the locations and the movements of these police 101 00:06:48,270 --> 00:06:50,420 contingent and the movements of Ben Hall 102 00:06:50,420 --> 00:06:52,220 in his last hours. 103 00:06:52,220 --> 00:06:54,450 - And, we've got the official police report 104 00:06:54,450 --> 00:06:57,260 that Sub Inspector Davidson wrote on the 12th of May, 105 00:06:57,260 --> 00:06:59,680 a week later, and it's quite different actually 106 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,070 from the inquest reports that we've also got, 107 00:07:02,070 --> 00:07:04,180 where Davidson gave evidence. 108 00:07:04,180 --> 00:07:06,670 Now these stories, there's some discrepancies in them, 109 00:07:06,670 --> 00:07:09,150 so that's really interesting to sort of try 110 00:07:09,150 --> 00:07:12,130 and make sense of where and why the stories 111 00:07:12,130 --> 00:07:14,350 are different in key bits of evidence. 112 00:07:14,350 --> 00:07:16,020 - The other thing we've got that's really important is 113 00:07:16,020 --> 00:07:18,170 we've got the testimony of Dr. Assenheim. 114 00:07:18,170 --> 00:07:20,180 He was the doctor who examined Ben very soon 115 00:07:20,180 --> 00:07:23,210 after his death and gave evidence and talked 116 00:07:23,210 --> 00:07:24,110 about the wounds. 117 00:07:24,110 --> 00:07:26,170 And one of the surprising things about it is 118 00:07:26,170 --> 00:07:29,030 that it's quite a scanty report. 119 00:07:29,030 --> 00:07:31,270 There's not much detail in it, but what we can do is 120 00:07:31,270 --> 00:07:33,170 we can take what is given us and then we can 121 00:07:33,170 --> 00:07:35,870 interrogate it based on the other documents we have 122 00:07:35,870 --> 00:07:37,860 and this wonderful map. 123 00:07:37,855 --> 00:07:39,225 - The thing that worries me is that there are two 124 00:07:39,230 --> 00:07:41,980 distinct versions of Ben Hall's death. 125 00:07:41,980 --> 00:07:43,720 There were no independent witnesses. 126 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:45,660 It's all from the police side. 127 00:07:45,660 --> 00:07:46,660 How can we trust them? 128 00:07:46,660 --> 00:07:48,690 - Well, I think that's the point, isn't it? 129 00:07:48,690 --> 00:07:51,560 - All we know is, Hall was killed by the police 130 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,300 on the 5th of May in 1865 and what we've gotta do 131 00:07:54,300 --> 00:07:57,110 is find out what happened leading up to 132 00:07:57,110 --> 00:07:58,730 and during that event. 133 00:07:58,730 --> 00:08:00,860 - We have to take what they have said and we have 134 00:08:00,860 --> 00:08:03,420 to just dissect it and compare it to what we know. 135 00:08:06,950 --> 00:08:09,490 - [Narrator] The Police had been closing in on Hall 136 00:08:09,490 --> 00:08:11,570 for weeks before the attack. 137 00:08:12,750 --> 00:08:17,380 Rupert Ward is the descendant of the senior police officer 138 00:08:17,380 --> 00:08:19,440 who led the hunt for Ben Hall. 139 00:08:20,370 --> 00:08:22,770 - James Davidson was your great grandfather. 140 00:08:22,767 --> 00:08:23,857 - Yes. 141 00:08:23,860 --> 00:08:25,240 - What sort of a man was he? 142 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,680 - From my impression he was a hard working person, 143 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:34,090 a responsible person with a desire to do well. 144 00:08:34,090 --> 00:08:37,340 We've always known about Ben Hall and the fact 145 00:08:37,343 --> 00:08:39,623 that he shot him. 146 00:08:39,620 --> 00:08:43,350 There was a general impression that it was best 147 00:08:43,350 --> 00:08:44,950 not to talk about it. 148 00:08:44,950 --> 00:08:46,970 He wasn't proud of that shooting. 149 00:08:46,973 --> 00:08:50,633 It's not something that he promoted himself over. 150 00:08:50,630 --> 00:08:53,240 My grandfather's researching the family history 151 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:56,490 which involved James Henry Davidson. 152 00:08:56,490 --> 00:09:00,480 My grandmother told him don't look too closely. 153 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,490 You might not like what you find out. 154 00:09:03,523 --> 00:09:06,113 (gentle music) 155 00:09:09,010 --> 00:09:11,990 - [Narrator] The first step in investigating how Hall 156 00:09:11,990 --> 00:09:16,030 was killed is to determine where it actually happened. 157 00:09:16,870 --> 00:09:19,920 - So, like these saplings, that's the official 158 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:21,450 shooting site of Ben Hall. 159 00:09:21,447 --> 00:09:23,707 But the first thing I want to do is try and prove 160 00:09:23,710 --> 00:09:26,410 whether it really is the place where Ben Hall died. 161 00:09:26,410 --> 00:09:27,900 - Even though there's a plaque to him 162 00:09:27,900 --> 00:09:30,090 and information about his death right there. 163 00:09:30,090 --> 00:09:32,530 - I know, but you look at Davidson's map. 164 00:09:32,530 --> 00:09:34,330 There's a couple of things that don't add up. 165 00:09:34,330 --> 00:09:37,010 One, there's the site there and that tree line 166 00:09:37,010 --> 00:09:38,940 over there, that's the Billabong Creek. 167 00:09:38,940 --> 00:09:42,060 It's just too far away to fit with what's 168 00:09:42,060 --> 00:09:43,370 on the Davidson map. 169 00:09:43,370 --> 00:09:45,860 And the second thing is, the creek turns 170 00:09:45,860 --> 00:09:48,590 to the north there in front of us. 171 00:09:48,590 --> 00:09:51,810 According to the map the creek is relatively east/west, 172 00:09:51,810 --> 00:09:55,290 running along like that, so it just doesn't feel right. 173 00:09:55,290 --> 00:09:57,380 But, what we can look at is this. 174 00:09:57,380 --> 00:10:00,110 See it's got a hut here, Strickland's Hut. 175 00:10:00,110 --> 00:10:03,150 See, I think the real kill site is out there somewhere. 176 00:10:03,152 --> 00:10:04,672 - But because of Strickland Hut 177 00:10:04,670 --> 00:10:07,190 and the northern running river. 178 00:10:07,190 --> 00:10:08,860 - Absolutely, but the crucial thing is we need 179 00:10:08,860 --> 00:10:10,360 to find that hut. 180 00:10:10,364 --> 00:10:12,954 (upbeat music) 181 00:10:14,610 --> 00:10:17,890 - [Narrator] Just a few years before Ben Hall's death 182 00:10:17,890 --> 00:10:21,550 this region of New South Wales is transformed. 183 00:10:25,470 --> 00:10:30,150 - [Kiera] In 1861 gold is discovered in the Lachlan region 184 00:10:30,150 --> 00:10:33,310 and it is explosive and exciting. 185 00:10:33,310 --> 00:10:35,890 This whole world kinda goes from black and white 186 00:10:35,890 --> 00:10:40,660 to color and drama as migrants flood in here 187 00:10:40,660 --> 00:10:43,890 and gold starts to be pulled out of the soil 188 00:10:43,890 --> 00:10:46,200 and a world of temptation and possibility 189 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,860 suddenly presents itself right under the nose 190 00:10:48,860 --> 00:10:51,070 of the simple native born man. 191 00:10:52,490 --> 00:10:54,940 - [Narrator] Gold disrupts life in the region 192 00:10:54,940 --> 00:10:57,940 already caught in the grip of tensions 193 00:10:57,940 --> 00:11:01,300 between British immigrants and the convict class. 194 00:11:03,110 --> 00:11:04,980 - [Kiera] One of the things that I think is most important 195 00:11:04,980 --> 00:11:08,680 to understand about Ben Hall is that he was 196 00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:11,500 a native born, and that means he was part 197 00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:13,960 of the first generation of Europeans to be born 198 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:17,730 in the colony and on top of that, Ben Hall was also 199 00:11:17,730 --> 00:11:19,390 the son of two convicts. 200 00:11:21,500 --> 00:11:25,060 - [Narrator] Ben Hall was brushed with the convict stain, 201 00:11:25,060 --> 00:11:28,050 yet against the odds he becomes a respectable 202 00:11:28,050 --> 00:11:30,630 landowner with a bright future. 203 00:11:32,770 --> 00:11:35,240 - [Kiera] He had the reputation for being polite 204 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,530 and popular, well meaning. 205 00:11:37,530 --> 00:11:40,640 People really liked Ben as a young man. 206 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,420 It's often said that Hall was the kind of man 207 00:11:43,420 --> 00:11:46,660 who was pushed to become an outlaw, 208 00:11:46,660 --> 00:11:48,670 to live a life of crime, that he wouldn't 209 00:11:48,670 --> 00:11:50,530 have done it naturally, that there was this 210 00:11:50,530 --> 00:11:51,970 sort of perfect storm. 211 00:11:53,303 --> 00:11:55,893 (gentle music) 212 00:11:57,130 --> 00:12:00,870 His wife, Betty Walsh, had run away with another man 213 00:12:00,870 --> 00:12:05,140 and taken their son, Henry, and that this 214 00:12:05,140 --> 00:12:07,890 absolutely devastated Hall. 215 00:12:09,550 --> 00:12:12,370 And right on the heels of that Hall was arrested 216 00:12:12,370 --> 00:12:14,790 and did four weeks in jail for a robbery 217 00:12:14,790 --> 00:12:18,240 he claimed he was not involved in and for which 218 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,270 he was never convicted. 219 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:23,170 He came back from jail to find 220 00:12:23,170 --> 00:12:25,730 that all his cattle were dead. 221 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,940 He's lost his wife, he's lost his income, 222 00:12:30,940 --> 00:12:32,860 his opportunity for independent wealth 223 00:12:32,860 --> 00:12:34,600 and the dignity that comes with that 224 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,650 and all that that represented for him 225 00:12:36,650 --> 00:12:38,420 as a native born man. 226 00:12:38,423 --> 00:12:41,013 (upbeat music) 227 00:12:43,930 --> 00:12:46,340 - [Narrator] The legend of Hall is kept alive 228 00:12:46,340 --> 00:12:48,790 by his great nephew, Peter Bradley. 229 00:12:50,430 --> 00:12:51,260 - Cup of tea already? 230 00:12:51,263 --> 00:12:52,353 - Cup of tea already. 231 00:12:52,350 --> 00:12:54,950 - [Narrator] But for generations it was hidden 232 00:12:54,950 --> 00:12:56,930 as a family secret. 233 00:12:56,930 --> 00:12:59,810 - According to my mother, there was no bushrangers 234 00:12:59,810 --> 00:13:03,020 in our family and even though we grew up 235 00:13:03,020 --> 00:13:05,930 not far from the place where Ben Hall was killed 236 00:13:05,930 --> 00:13:09,400 and I only found out after she passed away, 237 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,670 probably nine or 10 years ago, from my cousin. 238 00:13:12,670 --> 00:13:13,500 - Is that right? 239 00:13:13,503 --> 00:13:16,293 - Yeah, I think people of that generation, 240 00:13:16,290 --> 00:13:18,970 convict ancestry, bushranger ancestry, 241 00:13:18,970 --> 00:13:21,560 that was something to be just forgotten about. 242 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:24,380 - So, what do you make of the police actions on the day? 243 00:13:24,380 --> 00:13:25,370 Were they lawful? 244 00:13:25,370 --> 00:13:27,900 - For them to just open fire and shoot like that 245 00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:29,660 was really quite cowardly. 246 00:13:29,660 --> 00:13:31,820 Heavily armed, eight to one. 247 00:13:31,820 --> 00:13:32,900 - So, would you go as far as saying 248 00:13:32,903 --> 00:13:34,673 that Ben Hall was murdered? 249 00:13:34,673 --> 00:13:38,433 - I would think that certainly a charge of murder 250 00:13:38,430 --> 00:13:40,960 or at the very least, manslaughter. 251 00:13:44,030 --> 00:13:47,360 - [Narrator] To find the location where Ben Hall was killed 252 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,600 Adam is searching for evidence of the Strickland Hut 253 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,640 marked on Sub Inspector Davidson's map. 254 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:55,650 It's a crucial reference point. 255 00:13:56,990 --> 00:14:01,990 Incredibly, he starts finding clues lying under our feet. 256 00:14:02,500 --> 00:14:03,860 - Look at this. 257 00:14:03,855 --> 00:14:04,755 You see this? 258 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,180 That's ceramic, you see it's got little band on it. 259 00:14:07,175 --> 00:14:09,915 This is really interesting 'cause this means 260 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:12,330 that it's not just an agricultural site. 261 00:14:12,330 --> 00:14:14,590 This is a domestic site, this is pottery. 262 00:14:14,590 --> 00:14:15,750 See the willow pattern? 263 00:14:15,754 --> 00:14:17,304 - Yeah, yeah. 264 00:14:17,295 --> 00:14:18,795 - See this brick? 265 00:14:18,803 --> 00:14:19,913 This is really exciting. 266 00:14:19,914 --> 00:14:21,584 - There was obviously a brick home. 267 00:14:21,580 --> 00:14:23,640 - It would have been really basic back at this time. 268 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:25,420 It would have perhaps been two rooms, 269 00:14:25,420 --> 00:14:28,100 timber walls, shingle roof, even just 270 00:14:28,100 --> 00:14:30,400 a beaten earth floor rather than floor boards. 271 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,120 - [Narrator] After a day of investigating 272 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,680 Adam and his team have discovered more artifacts 273 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:41,940 dating back to the mid 1800s. 274 00:14:41,940 --> 00:14:43,860 - So, there's maybe a perfume bottle 275 00:14:43,860 --> 00:14:46,030 or a medicine bottle or something. 276 00:14:46,030 --> 00:14:48,580 The artifacts are dated to the right time. 277 00:14:48,580 --> 00:14:52,150 It's a domestic house and it's in the right location. 278 00:14:52,150 --> 00:14:54,610 I'm pretty confident saying that we've got the hut 279 00:14:54,610 --> 00:14:56,320 that is marked on the Davidson map. 280 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:57,670 This is the Strickland Hut. 281 00:14:59,150 --> 00:15:03,770 I've got a blowup of one of our aerials of the site. 282 00:15:03,770 --> 00:15:07,900 So, this is Billabong Creek, just over there 283 00:15:07,900 --> 00:15:10,890 and here is where we're standing, which is where 284 00:15:10,890 --> 00:15:13,320 we've discovered the site, the Strickland Hut. 285 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:16,500 Watch what happens when I overlay this transparency 286 00:15:16,500 --> 00:15:17,780 of Davidson's plan. 287 00:15:19,290 --> 00:15:21,960 So let's line it up to what the places we know 288 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:23,240 which is the Billabong Creek. 289 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,170 So, Davidson's creek, the actual creek here 290 00:15:26,170 --> 00:15:29,610 and Strickland Hut is here, so that's there. 291 00:15:29,610 --> 00:15:33,060 So these two permanent features line up. 292 00:15:33,060 --> 00:15:35,940 What doesn't line up is the official kill site 293 00:15:35,940 --> 00:15:40,940 which is there because Davidson said Hall died here. 294 00:15:40,950 --> 00:15:43,130 That's almost 700 meters to the west. 295 00:15:43,130 --> 00:15:46,630 - Right, so are you saying the official kill site 296 00:15:46,634 --> 00:15:48,224 could be wrong? 297 00:15:48,215 --> 00:15:49,405 - I am. 298 00:15:49,410 --> 00:15:52,030 I may be stickin' my neck out until we prove it. 299 00:15:52,030 --> 00:15:54,860 But I'm pretty confident from this evidence 300 00:15:54,860 --> 00:15:55,690 that it's wrong. 301 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,490 - [Narrator] If Adam is right a new shooting site 302 00:16:01,490 --> 00:16:05,380 could hold fresh clues into how Ben Hall was killed, 303 00:16:06,750 --> 00:16:09,840 but with the site buried under a field of lupin 304 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,300 the search for evidence is not going to be easy. 305 00:16:23,250 --> 00:16:25,800 - The violent death of bushranger, Ben Hall, 306 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:30,200 has been shrouded in controversy for over 150 years. 307 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,500 There are the police accounts which claim 308 00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:35,640 Hall was shot while trying to escape. 309 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:40,020 And both accounts differ as to whether he was even armed. 310 00:16:40,020 --> 00:16:42,500 And then there's the bush legend which says 311 00:16:42,500 --> 00:16:45,790 that Hall was executed by a police tracker 312 00:16:45,790 --> 00:16:46,930 while he slept. 313 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,800 Well, our team of experts is trying to discover 314 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:55,660 what actually occurred and starting with where it happened. 315 00:16:56,804 --> 00:16:58,854 (upbeat music) 316 00:16:58,850 --> 00:17:02,050 Adam believes that Ben Hall was killed somewhere 317 00:17:02,050 --> 00:17:07,050 around here, 700 meters west of the official shooting site. 318 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,610 But if there's any evidence to be found 319 00:17:10,610 --> 00:17:13,030 it's buried under this field of lupin. 320 00:17:16,310 --> 00:17:20,950 Fortunately, the farmer has agreed to gear a large section 321 00:17:20,950 --> 00:17:23,130 so the team can begin hunting. 322 00:17:28,215 --> 00:17:32,885 - This is a CTX 3030, it's a mine lab metal detector 323 00:17:32,890 --> 00:17:34,630 and it's different from the normal metal detectors 324 00:17:34,630 --> 00:17:36,630 that just go beep and that's all you know, 325 00:17:36,630 --> 00:17:38,400 there's a piece of metal there. 326 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,150 This can discriminate between different types of metal. 327 00:17:41,150 --> 00:17:42,720 It's got these number ranges. 328 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,660 The low range is non ferrous alloys 329 00:17:45,660 --> 00:17:47,520 and the higher range is the ferrous alloys 330 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,600 and of course, we're not interested in anything iron. 331 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,400 What we're after are the bullets, the projectiles 332 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,050 that came out of these guns and they're made of lead. 333 00:18:01,740 --> 00:18:03,990 - [Narrator] As Adam's team is trying to find 334 00:18:03,990 --> 00:18:08,500 where and how Ben Hall died Kiera is looking 335 00:18:08,500 --> 00:18:11,140 to how Hall became such a legend 336 00:18:11,140 --> 00:18:12,910 while he was alive. 337 00:18:12,910 --> 00:18:15,200 - When it came to the authorities he was very cheeky, 338 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:16,530 very brazen, wasn't he? 339 00:18:16,530 --> 00:18:17,780 - He was so brazen. 340 00:18:17,780 --> 00:18:19,070 - He was making fun of them, wasn't he? 341 00:18:19,066 --> 00:18:19,896 - Absolutely. 342 00:18:19,899 --> 00:18:22,239 - Running rings around the local cops, wasn't he? 343 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:23,790 - That was one of the reasons that they 344 00:18:23,790 --> 00:18:26,620 were so popular, this gang, because the Lachlan people 345 00:18:26,615 --> 00:18:28,695 didn't really like the police who had only 346 00:18:28,700 --> 00:18:31,670 just come into the region anyway and they thought 347 00:18:31,670 --> 00:18:33,410 that these police were interlopers 348 00:18:33,410 --> 00:18:35,150 and they considered them fools. 349 00:18:35,150 --> 00:18:36,210 They didn't know the land, 350 00:18:36,210 --> 00:18:37,870 they didn't know how to ride horses. 351 00:18:37,870 --> 00:18:39,550 They'd come with all their toffee heirs 352 00:18:39,550 --> 00:18:42,290 and English superiority so the people 353 00:18:42,290 --> 00:18:45,240 around Lachlan thought it was great locks 354 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,570 that Ben Hall was making fun of the police. 355 00:18:49,820 --> 00:18:51,450 Ben Hall is said to have committed 356 00:18:51,450 --> 00:18:55,410 something between 100 and 600 acts of robbery 357 00:18:55,410 --> 00:18:57,490 during his career as a bushranger, 358 00:18:59,490 --> 00:19:02,090 including what's said to be the largest 359 00:19:02,090 --> 00:19:04,210 gold heist in colonial history, 360 00:19:04,210 --> 00:19:07,100 the Eugowra Gold Escort robbery. 361 00:19:08,580 --> 00:19:11,440 While the charges against Hall never stuck 362 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:13,440 and most of the gold was reclaimed 363 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,860 he basically got away with it and became a hero 364 00:19:16,860 --> 00:19:18,280 for the native born people. 365 00:19:20,210 --> 00:19:24,820 - So slowly, but surely there was great animosity 366 00:19:24,820 --> 00:19:28,930 and I suppose a sense of revenge building in the police. 367 00:19:28,930 --> 00:19:30,510 - I think so, absolutely. 368 00:19:33,490 --> 00:19:36,100 - [Narrator] So, could revenge have driven 369 00:19:36,100 --> 00:19:38,340 the police to kill Ben Hall? 370 00:19:39,420 --> 00:19:42,050 The story that Hall was shot in his sleep 371 00:19:42,050 --> 00:19:45,400 and a victim of a police coverup is chronicled 372 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:49,300 in a famous song called The Streets of Forbes. 373 00:19:52,070 --> 00:19:53,350 - So this is what it says. 374 00:19:53,350 --> 00:19:56,630 Bill Dargin he was chosen to shoot the outlaw dead. 375 00:19:56,630 --> 00:20:00,180 The troopers fired madly and filled him full of lead. 376 00:20:00,180 --> 00:20:01,650 They threw him on a horse 377 00:20:01,650 --> 00:20:03,510 and strapped him like a swag. 378 00:20:03,510 --> 00:20:05,760 And then they led him through the streets of Forbes 379 00:20:05,763 --> 00:20:08,113 to show the prize they had. 380 00:20:09,870 --> 00:20:12,200 - Roger, you looked at the report on the words. 381 00:20:12,203 --> 00:20:14,173 Could they be consistent with him being 382 00:20:14,170 --> 00:20:15,250 shot in his sleep? 383 00:20:15,250 --> 00:20:16,430 - I think absolutely. 384 00:20:16,430 --> 00:20:19,470 It's possible that Billy Dargin crept up 385 00:20:19,470 --> 00:20:21,920 very carefully, shot him. 386 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:23,380 Are there two bullet wounds in the head? 387 00:20:23,380 --> 00:20:24,370 Yes there are. 388 00:20:24,370 --> 00:20:26,550 Then, the other police came out, the shooting 389 00:20:26,550 --> 00:20:28,160 had been done, and finished him off. 390 00:20:28,163 --> 00:20:31,663 I think from the wounds, that is a possible scenario. 391 00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:34,740 - How could he trust the other seven members 392 00:20:34,740 --> 00:20:37,600 of the posse to hold their tongue? 393 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:39,560 - The reward money was pretty substantial 394 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,180 and very tempting and remember that their reputation 395 00:20:43,180 --> 00:20:45,550 has been absolutely dashed by Ben Hall. 396 00:20:45,550 --> 00:20:49,660 He has humiliated them again and again and again. 397 00:20:49,660 --> 00:20:51,120 - These likely to be men that are going 398 00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:52,890 to be bought like that. 399 00:20:52,890 --> 00:20:53,950 I don't know. 400 00:20:53,950 --> 00:20:56,160 I mean, it's certainly tempting, but you know, 401 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:58,910 the more complicated the story is, if it's not true, 402 00:20:58,910 --> 00:21:01,160 the more likely it is that somebody's gonna fall off 403 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:04,180 or turn evidence against them and it didn't happen. 404 00:21:04,176 --> 00:21:06,756 (upbeat music) 405 00:21:10,700 --> 00:21:12,620 - [Narrator] New evidence will help determine 406 00:21:12,620 --> 00:21:16,930 if the official police account, or if the Dargin story 407 00:21:16,930 --> 00:21:18,710 is more likely to be true. 408 00:21:20,950 --> 00:21:25,660 The search for bullets has been underway now for two days, 409 00:21:25,660 --> 00:21:29,600 so is Adam still confident he's looking in the right spot? 410 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:30,790 How's it going? 411 00:21:30,790 --> 00:21:33,210 - Well, it's going good in one way. 412 00:21:33,210 --> 00:21:35,020 I mean, we're finding lots of stuff. 413 00:21:35,020 --> 00:21:37,490 But in another way it's not the stuff we're after. 414 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,800 A lotta these flags, they indicate ferrous metal, 415 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,050 which is kind of iron based and iron sparks, 416 00:21:45,050 --> 00:21:47,740 so you don't get any iron to do with ballistics 417 00:21:47,740 --> 00:21:50,230 or to do with guns other than the actual weapons themselves. 418 00:21:50,230 --> 00:21:51,960 So, it's not what we're after. 419 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,210 Although, I did find one thing that got my heart racing. 420 00:21:54,210 --> 00:21:55,240 I'll show you. 421 00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:56,830 This little item here. 422 00:21:56,830 --> 00:21:58,630 We found it earlier today. 423 00:21:58,630 --> 00:22:00,570 Feel that, feel the weight of that? 424 00:22:00,566 --> 00:22:03,466 - Yeah, to a ignoramus like me it looks 425 00:22:03,470 --> 00:22:05,840 like a little rock, but you're right it is heavier. 426 00:22:05,835 --> 00:22:07,475 - It's lead, it's lead. 427 00:22:07,475 --> 00:22:10,575 And these projectiles that we're looking for are lead. 428 00:22:11,536 --> 00:22:12,606 But unfortunately, you see the green on it? 429 00:22:12,606 --> 00:22:15,036 It's got a copper casing or a copper coating, 430 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,680 so it is a bullet and it's big one, 431 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:21,820 which also indicates old, but with a copper casing on it, 432 00:22:21,820 --> 00:22:24,770 it's 25 years too late for us. 433 00:22:24,770 --> 00:22:25,950 So, it's a bit crushing. 434 00:22:25,950 --> 00:22:28,140 Lift me up, brought me back down again. 435 00:22:28,140 --> 00:22:29,610 - You do seem a little nervous about it. 436 00:22:29,610 --> 00:22:31,050 - I am nervous really 'cause we've opened 437 00:22:31,050 --> 00:22:33,610 this paddock up and we haven't found anything yet 438 00:22:33,610 --> 00:22:36,250 that we can relate to the death of Ben Hall. 439 00:22:36,250 --> 00:22:38,460 - And of course, your whole reputation's at stake. 440 00:22:38,460 --> 00:22:40,150 - Yeah, I don't have much of that left anyway, 441 00:22:40,150 --> 00:22:41,200 so that's okay. 442 00:22:41,195 --> 00:22:42,095 - That's not true. 443 00:22:43,230 --> 00:22:47,020 So on a scale of one to 10, how confident are you? 444 00:22:47,020 --> 00:22:49,570 - First thing this morning would have been eight. 445 00:22:49,570 --> 00:22:51,890 Now about a five. 446 00:22:51,890 --> 00:22:53,670 - Okay, so we're still 50/50. 447 00:22:53,674 --> 00:22:56,264 (upbeat music) 448 00:23:02,870 --> 00:23:06,220 - [Narrator] While physical evidence remains elusive 449 00:23:06,220 --> 00:23:09,500 Roger and Kiera are uncovering clues 450 00:23:09,500 --> 00:23:12,750 in the historical records that raise doubt 451 00:23:12,750 --> 00:23:15,050 about the police version of the event. 452 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,540 - [Kiera] There's all those reports about his body 453 00:23:18,540 --> 00:23:21,220 being laid out and hundreds of people going in to see 454 00:23:21,216 --> 00:23:24,166 and the disgust they felt when they saw his 455 00:23:24,170 --> 00:23:28,080 perforated body and you know, the shots through his head, 456 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,210 his legs shredded. 457 00:23:30,210 --> 00:23:32,340 - [Narrator] But the official medical report 458 00:23:32,344 --> 00:23:35,084 tells a very different story. 459 00:23:36,070 --> 00:23:38,130 - I've been looking at Dr. Assenheim's statement 460 00:23:38,130 --> 00:23:40,010 which was prepared after he had examined 461 00:23:40,010 --> 00:23:42,290 Ben's body the day after the shooting 462 00:23:42,290 --> 00:23:44,140 and there's only four lines really, 463 00:23:44,140 --> 00:23:45,890 talking about the findings. 464 00:23:45,890 --> 00:23:48,200 I've examined the body of the deceased, that's Ben. 465 00:23:48,195 --> 00:23:51,915 I find it perforated by several bullets. 466 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,330 Now, what he's talking about is two shots here, 467 00:23:55,330 --> 00:23:56,510 the two to the head. 468 00:23:56,510 --> 00:23:58,910 Then we have a shot in the back. 469 00:23:58,910 --> 00:24:00,900 That's your shotgun wound. 470 00:24:00,900 --> 00:24:02,440 Then we have this through and through shot 471 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,160 in the left flank and it comes out on the right side. 472 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,600 What concerns me is on Sub Inspector Davidson's 473 00:24:10,595 --> 00:24:14,075 admission there were 30 rounds fired. 474 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:18,330 So, why have we only got four wounds described 475 00:24:18,330 --> 00:24:19,670 in the medical report? 476 00:24:19,670 --> 00:24:21,620 - So, what are you thinking? 477 00:24:21,620 --> 00:24:24,170 - Well, I think that Dr. Assenheim was actually 478 00:24:24,174 --> 00:24:27,444 downplayed the number of shots. 479 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:28,450 Or, is this damage control? 480 00:24:28,450 --> 00:24:31,030 Is the doctor trying to protect the police 481 00:24:31,033 --> 00:24:32,803 that he would be working with? 482 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,800 I think those things are quite possible. 483 00:24:35,660 --> 00:24:38,370 - In the inquest on the day after Sub Inspector 484 00:24:38,370 --> 00:24:41,010 Davidson says that when he sees Hall walking out 485 00:24:41,010 --> 00:24:44,320 at first light he sees him with just a bridle 486 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:48,100 in his hand, but a week later he says this. 487 00:24:48,100 --> 00:24:51,650 We saw a man who we instantly recognized as Hall 488 00:24:51,650 --> 00:24:54,880 moving out of a scrub with a bridle and a revolver. 489 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,970 As he ran towards the saplings he clutched it and he 490 00:24:58,970 --> 00:25:01,890 aimed his revolver at the five policemen 491 00:25:01,890 --> 00:25:03,210 who were shooting at him. 492 00:25:03,210 --> 00:25:06,040 So, he's put a gun in Ben Hall's hand a week later. 493 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:07,240 - Why would you do that? 494 00:25:10,090 --> 00:25:13,550 - [Narrator] There is one crucial clue to verifying 495 00:25:13,550 --> 00:25:17,170 if the police account is likely to be true. 496 00:25:17,170 --> 00:25:20,850 Roger has traced what may be the only piece 497 00:25:20,850 --> 00:25:24,070 of physical evidence from the event so far, 498 00:25:24,070 --> 00:25:27,870 an old belt, supposedly worn by Ben Hall 499 00:25:27,870 --> 00:25:28,910 when he died. 500 00:25:30,410 --> 00:25:32,750 - Okay, Damian, what do we know about this belt? 501 00:25:32,750 --> 00:25:35,440 - As long as this museum's had the belt, 502 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,780 and it came into the collection in 1958, 503 00:25:38,776 --> 00:25:41,016 it's always been known as Ben Hall's belt. 504 00:25:41,020 --> 00:25:44,120 Certainly, as you'll see from the descriptions 505 00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:47,310 it looks like the type of belt from that era 506 00:25:47,310 --> 00:25:50,950 and it certainly looks like an ammunition belt. 507 00:25:50,950 --> 00:25:53,150 We've never been able to prove definitively 508 00:25:53,150 --> 00:25:54,450 that it's Ben Hall's belt. 509 00:25:55,350 --> 00:25:57,070 - [Roger] I've seen the photographs of this. 510 00:25:57,067 --> 00:25:58,827 It doesn't look like a bullet hole to me. 511 00:25:58,830 --> 00:26:00,540 - [Damian] It's always been in two halves, 512 00:26:00,540 --> 00:26:03,790 but let's put the belt back together 513 00:26:03,790 --> 00:26:04,820 as it would've been. 514 00:26:05,945 --> 00:26:08,635 - Magic, look at that. 515 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:09,990 That's extraordinary. 516 00:26:09,990 --> 00:26:10,820 - [Damian] Why? 517 00:26:10,823 --> 00:26:12,363 - Well, we've got a bullet hole 518 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:13,640 which I thought wasn't there. 519 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,760 I mean, we've got this oval defect 520 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,530 which is what we get when a bullet 521 00:26:19,530 --> 00:26:22,870 comes at an angle, not directly at you. 522 00:26:22,870 --> 00:26:25,600 - [Narrator] Roger's research into the medical records 523 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,180 of Hall's dead body describes a bullet wound 524 00:26:29,180 --> 00:26:31,750 right through his left side 525 00:26:31,750 --> 00:26:34,050 and according to police records 526 00:26:34,050 --> 00:26:37,360 that same shot took off Hall's gun belt. 527 00:26:38,976 --> 00:26:41,236 - Be interesting to measure how far that is 528 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,350 from the front on Damian maybe where it lies. 529 00:26:44,350 --> 00:26:45,590 - Want me to take my belt off? 530 00:26:45,587 --> 00:26:47,197 - If you insist yes. 531 00:26:48,290 --> 00:26:49,500 - That's the distance. 532 00:26:49,500 --> 00:26:53,910 So, if we use you as a guinea pig and put the front there 533 00:26:53,910 --> 00:26:57,160 and we bring that around to the side, 534 00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:59,550 that's where that went in. 535 00:26:59,550 --> 00:27:01,890 Police describe that through and through shot 536 00:27:01,890 --> 00:27:02,820 near the kidneys. 537 00:27:03,660 --> 00:27:07,420 It's actually coming in from the back and the side, 538 00:27:07,420 --> 00:27:10,160 so it's coming in at an angle and if you remember 539 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,910 the description there were two policemen, 540 00:27:14,770 --> 00:27:16,700 three people shooting behind him 541 00:27:16,700 --> 00:27:19,120 and there were five people that come out 542 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:21,000 in about that position. 543 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,520 - So, what will you do now? 544 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,820 - What we can do is, we'll do some scientific testing 545 00:27:24,820 --> 00:27:27,550 to try to add weight to the evidence 546 00:27:27,553 --> 00:27:29,263 that this may be Ben Hall's belt. 547 00:27:29,260 --> 00:27:31,670 We can't test for DNA because the fluids, 548 00:27:31,670 --> 00:27:34,090 the blood have gone, it's 150 years ago. 549 00:27:34,090 --> 00:27:36,670 But, what we can do is to actually take 550 00:27:36,670 --> 00:27:40,880 a piece of the actual belt and submit that for analysis. 551 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,580 We can look around the edge and sample that 552 00:27:43,580 --> 00:27:45,010 and see if we can see lead 553 00:27:45,010 --> 00:27:47,370 because as a bullet goes through 554 00:27:47,370 --> 00:27:51,410 leather or skin it wipes itself, so you can get soot 555 00:27:51,406 --> 00:27:55,406 and with the old lead bullets we may get a lead residue. 556 00:27:55,410 --> 00:27:57,310 - I find it a difficult thing to suggest 557 00:27:57,310 --> 00:27:59,840 because it's causing damage even though it's minor, 558 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:02,440 but I think it'll give us a very interesting answer. 559 00:28:03,850 --> 00:28:05,930 - [Narrator] Can modern science determine 560 00:28:05,930 --> 00:28:10,350 if the museum belt was shot off by a ball of lead 561 00:28:10,350 --> 00:28:14,040 and will it help reveal if the police version 562 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:18,520 of Ben Hall's death is true or if he was 563 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,040 shot in his sleep. 564 00:28:23,467 --> 00:28:25,967 (guns firing) 565 00:28:27,850 --> 00:28:30,750 - There have always been conflicting accounts 566 00:28:30,750 --> 00:28:32,870 surrounding Ben Hall's death. 567 00:28:32,870 --> 00:28:36,350 The police version says the bushranger was armed 568 00:28:36,350 --> 00:28:38,920 when they gunned him down in a blaze 569 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,790 of overwhelming fire power. 570 00:28:41,790 --> 00:28:45,240 Others claim that the police executed Hall 571 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:47,120 while he was asleep. 572 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,700 So, is Hall's death a case of police brutality 573 00:28:50,700 --> 00:28:53,700 at its worst or were the police just protecting themselves 574 00:28:53,696 --> 00:28:56,886 against an armed and dangerous criminal? 575 00:28:56,890 --> 00:29:00,260 Well, there's new evidence that may reveal 576 00:29:00,260 --> 00:29:02,270 if the police version is right. 577 00:29:05,610 --> 00:29:08,350 - [Narrator] Roger collected samples from a museum's 578 00:29:08,350 --> 00:29:12,040 gun belt believed to have been worn by Ben Hall 579 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:13,830 when he was gunned down. 580 00:29:13,830 --> 00:29:16,310 The samples have been analyzed at the Victoria 581 00:29:16,310 --> 00:29:19,210 Police Forensic Lab using a powerful 582 00:29:19,210 --> 00:29:23,860 electron scanning microscope and the results are ready. 583 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,610 So, will there be any trace of lead on the belt 584 00:29:28,610 --> 00:29:32,400 from an event over 150 years ago? 585 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,750 - We can magnify things to 10,000 times their 586 00:29:35,750 --> 00:29:39,700 original size and do an elemental analysis 587 00:29:39,700 --> 00:29:41,190 at the same time. 588 00:29:41,190 --> 00:29:43,390 - If you find lead I'll fall over backwards. 589 00:29:44,390 --> 00:29:46,220 - What we're looking at here is the piece 590 00:29:46,220 --> 00:29:49,960 that has been taken from the belt itself. 591 00:29:49,955 --> 00:29:51,385 - [Roger] So, this is the edge of the bullet's hole. 592 00:29:51,387 --> 00:29:53,107 - [Kylie] It is, it is, yes. 593 00:29:53,110 --> 00:29:57,660 And what we're looking at here are the fibers. 594 00:29:57,660 --> 00:30:00,280 When we zoom in and have a look at these 595 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,230 small little particles, so we've sort of got 596 00:30:03,230 --> 00:30:07,790 little bright areas that are within the fibers themselves. 597 00:30:07,790 --> 00:30:09,610 If we click on a particle here. 598 00:30:09,610 --> 00:30:12,270 So, as you can see with this one, this is coming up 599 00:30:12,270 --> 00:30:13,390 positive for lead. 600 00:30:14,565 --> 00:30:17,185 - Huh, fancy that. 601 00:30:17,190 --> 00:30:20,080 - So, these particles of course, you know can be 602 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,820 associated with firearms, ammunition. 603 00:30:23,816 --> 00:30:26,526 - What it means is it may just be a gun belt, 604 00:30:26,526 --> 00:30:28,096 but isn't that interesting? 605 00:30:28,100 --> 00:30:31,030 - [Kylie] We also found some brass as well, 606 00:30:31,030 --> 00:30:33,930 which could be associated with the cartridge cases 607 00:30:33,930 --> 00:30:37,160 used at the time and we've also found 608 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,150 some interesting particles that also contain mercury. 609 00:30:40,150 --> 00:30:43,110 - [Roger] So, this fits this 19th century ammunition. 610 00:30:43,107 --> 00:30:44,357 So, it's worked. 611 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:45,450 - It has, yes. 612 00:30:45,446 --> 00:30:49,106 - Well, I would've bet my mortgage that that 613 00:30:49,113 --> 00:30:53,143 wouldn't have worked, but how extraordinary. 614 00:30:53,140 --> 00:30:55,660 - [Narrator] The lead residue on the belt means 615 00:30:55,660 --> 00:30:58,860 that it is possible it was shot off. 616 00:30:59,970 --> 00:31:02,450 The police account of Ben Hall's killing 617 00:31:02,450 --> 00:31:04,250 may have some credibility. 618 00:31:06,695 --> 00:31:09,615 (upbeat music) 619 00:31:09,620 --> 00:31:13,520 Sub Inspector Davidson's accounts detail a clear 620 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,540 and determined plan to get Hall, but why? 621 00:31:18,660 --> 00:31:21,670 Kiera has investigated another side 622 00:31:21,670 --> 00:31:23,960 to the Ben Hall legend. 623 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:25,830 - There was a much darker side, wasn't there? 624 00:31:25,830 --> 00:31:26,660 - Yeah, there was. 625 00:31:26,663 --> 00:31:30,563 So, this idea of the romantic rogue is not the whole story 626 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:32,760 and I think it's often cut out of the story. 627 00:31:35,048 --> 00:31:38,548 He robbed the poor, so not just a Robin Hood. 628 00:31:38,550 --> 00:31:42,270 He stole from bullet drivers and he also stole 629 00:31:42,270 --> 00:31:44,990 from the most persecuted group in colonial society 630 00:31:44,990 --> 00:31:47,720 at this time, the Chinese gold miners. 631 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,150 He also robbed women at gunpoint. 632 00:31:51,150 --> 00:31:52,500 So, this is not so chivalrous. 633 00:31:52,500 --> 00:31:55,040 It's not the gentleman of the rogue image. 634 00:31:59,130 --> 00:32:02,330 - [Narrator] And part of a group that were police killers. 635 00:32:02,330 --> 00:32:04,810 - [Kiera] There were at least two murders of policemen 636 00:32:04,810 --> 00:32:05,950 during this time. 637 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:08,340 - [Narrator] So, what was Hall's involvement 638 00:32:08,340 --> 00:32:09,170 in those murders? 639 00:32:09,173 --> 00:32:12,273 - I don't think we can say definitively, but what we 640 00:32:12,270 --> 00:32:15,570 do know is that he was a member of the gang, 641 00:32:15,570 --> 00:32:18,450 possibly the leader of the gang, so therefore, 642 00:32:18,450 --> 00:32:20,010 even if he didn't pull the trigger 643 00:32:20,010 --> 00:32:22,000 he had blood on his hands. 644 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,930 It's after this time that they have the outlaw reward 645 00:32:28,930 --> 00:32:30,600 put on their heads. 646 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,850 In that Hall is cited as wanted for willful murder. 647 00:32:38,194 --> 00:32:40,484 - It's easy to look back now and think 648 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,620 how romantic it is, but it's not romantic 649 00:32:43,620 --> 00:32:48,620 when a bunch of thugs come up and treason 650 00:32:48,700 --> 00:32:51,180 whole families or individuals. 651 00:32:53,770 --> 00:32:55,270 It had to be stopped really, just like 652 00:32:55,270 --> 00:32:56,870 it would have to be stopped now. 653 00:33:02,430 --> 00:33:04,130 - [Narrator] The police account of the killing 654 00:33:04,130 --> 00:33:07,620 of Ben Hall by Sub Inspector Davidson and his men 655 00:33:07,620 --> 00:33:11,180 is explicit, with detailed descriptions 656 00:33:11,180 --> 00:33:12,940 of every shot fired. 657 00:33:14,900 --> 00:33:17,840 Roger wants to better understand the power 658 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:21,050 of the weapons and the damage each caused 659 00:33:21,050 --> 00:33:22,120 to Hall's body. 660 00:33:23,180 --> 00:33:24,630 - One of the things we've gotta be aware of is 661 00:33:24,633 --> 00:33:27,903 that this is not Billabong Creek in 1865. 662 00:33:27,900 --> 00:33:29,460 All we're doing is trying to reconstruct 663 00:33:29,460 --> 00:33:30,970 some of the events and to understand them better. 664 00:33:30,970 --> 00:33:34,220 We're not trying to make exactly what happened there. 665 00:33:34,220 --> 00:33:36,130 We don't have all that much information. 666 00:33:36,130 --> 00:33:37,960 But, we've got the torso here 667 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,380 that's made of ballistic gelatin. 668 00:33:40,380 --> 00:33:41,560 So, we're using this to represent 669 00:33:41,555 --> 00:33:44,045 the back of Ben and as we know 670 00:33:44,050 --> 00:33:45,920 from Sub Inspector Davidson's testimony 671 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,010 that he and Billy Dargin both shot 672 00:33:48,010 --> 00:33:50,140 at him with a double barrel shotguns. 673 00:33:50,140 --> 00:33:52,610 Using this very strange elite cartridge 674 00:33:52,610 --> 00:33:54,290 that Ben's got here. 675 00:33:54,290 --> 00:33:56,070 - So, this was a convenient little bundle. 676 00:33:56,070 --> 00:33:59,200 The pellets all stayed together so that when the gun 677 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,080 was leveled the pellets didn't all roll out the end. 678 00:34:02,083 --> 00:34:03,803 - Sure, so it's a pretty lethal bundle. 679 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:04,800 - Yeah, very, absolutely. 680 00:34:04,803 --> 00:34:07,373 - You're serious when you fire that at someone. 681 00:34:10,090 --> 00:34:12,940 - [Narrator] When the gun is fired the wire cage 682 00:34:12,940 --> 00:34:16,190 and lead balls separate into a swarm 683 00:34:16,190 --> 00:34:18,100 of lethal projectiles. 684 00:34:20,830 --> 00:34:22,320 - I saw six or seven impacts. 685 00:34:23,620 --> 00:34:26,400 Look at this, the cage is caught in the shoulder 686 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:28,480 with two balls still inside of it. 687 00:34:28,483 --> 00:34:29,323 - In the back. 688 00:34:29,316 --> 00:34:31,006 - And one's come out right here. 689 00:34:31,007 --> 00:34:32,747 - And the cage so you can actually feel 690 00:34:32,750 --> 00:34:34,590 it under the skin there. 691 00:34:34,590 --> 00:34:37,860 - So, what we have here is we've got two entries 692 00:34:37,860 --> 00:34:38,870 on either side of the chest. 693 00:34:38,870 --> 00:34:40,910 There's one that's going into the right lung 694 00:34:40,910 --> 00:34:42,810 and that would cause fair amount of damage 695 00:34:42,810 --> 00:34:44,740 to the lung, but it's away from the heart 696 00:34:44,740 --> 00:34:46,970 and the aorta, the big vessel in the middle. 697 00:34:46,970 --> 00:34:49,320 And there's an entry here that would do the same thing 698 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:50,150 to the left lung. 699 00:34:50,153 --> 00:34:52,083 Of course, if those pellets had actually 700 00:34:52,923 --> 00:34:54,143 gone through ribs it would take bone with them, 701 00:34:54,140 --> 00:34:56,970 so that would magnify the damage that it could cause here. 702 00:34:56,970 --> 00:34:58,580 If you shoot somebody who's running away from you 703 00:34:58,580 --> 00:35:00,420 in the back with a shotgun, you're not really 704 00:35:00,420 --> 00:35:02,450 expecting them to do well. 705 00:35:05,070 --> 00:35:07,470 - [Narrator] Davidson said that after he fired 706 00:35:07,470 --> 00:35:11,300 Ben Hall jumped, turned around, but kept running. 707 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:16,530 Then Sargent James Condle testified he fired next 708 00:35:17,830 --> 00:35:20,810 and hit Hall between the shoulders. 709 00:35:20,810 --> 00:35:24,650 He was using a .56 caliber rifle. 710 00:35:25,552 --> 00:35:28,142 (upbeat music) 711 00:35:31,681 --> 00:35:33,241 - Whoa, look at that. 712 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:34,540 - Yep, right shoulder indeed. 713 00:35:34,540 --> 00:35:36,100 - Yep. 714 00:35:36,102 --> 00:35:38,592 - That is a brilliant shot. 715 00:35:38,590 --> 00:35:40,500 It's interesting looking at the track 716 00:35:40,500 --> 00:35:42,600 compared to the pellets. 717 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:43,810 It's very impressive. 718 00:35:43,810 --> 00:35:45,720 That would cause some damage. 719 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:47,470 - Yeah, it's one thing to look at it from the back here, 720 00:35:47,470 --> 00:35:49,090 but if you actually come to the side and have a look 721 00:35:49,094 --> 00:35:50,914 and you can actually see the bullet tracks 722 00:35:50,910 --> 00:35:52,990 traveling the full thickness of the torso there. 723 00:35:52,993 --> 00:35:54,323 - That is spectacular. 724 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:55,490 He was like a sieve. 725 00:35:55,490 --> 00:35:58,880 So what we've got with .56 is it is a much bigger tract. 726 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:01,360 It's coming in at the back of the right shoulder 727 00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,610 and it's coming out at the front. 728 00:36:03,610 --> 00:36:05,110 In this position it would have taken out 729 00:36:05,112 --> 00:36:06,592 the subclavian vessels so those are 730 00:36:06,590 --> 00:36:08,210 the big blood vessels going to the arm. 731 00:36:08,210 --> 00:36:10,700 So, you would need urgent medical care. 732 00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:14,400 - [Narrator] According to Davidson's police report 733 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,730 a third shot was fired from Billy Dargin's shotgun. 734 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,490 Hall stumbled and still kept running. 735 00:36:22,490 --> 00:36:24,630 - So, Ben Hall has now been shot three times, 736 00:36:24,630 --> 00:36:28,930 twice by shotguns and once by a large caliber .56. 737 00:36:28,930 --> 00:36:29,760 - That's correct. 738 00:36:29,763 --> 00:36:31,923 - Could the police, do you think, have now 739 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:33,090 taken him alive? 740 00:36:33,090 --> 00:36:35,270 - I think if he just had these wounds 741 00:36:35,270 --> 00:36:37,220 certainly he might have survived. 742 00:36:37,220 --> 00:36:39,830 So yes, if they had stopped firing 743 00:36:39,830 --> 00:36:41,620 perhaps they could have taken him alive. 744 00:36:41,622 --> 00:36:44,212 (upbeat music) 745 00:36:48,690 --> 00:36:50,150 - How's it going? 746 00:36:50,150 --> 00:36:52,350 - Not great actually, mate. 747 00:36:52,350 --> 00:36:54,720 Now we're clean towards the end of the detection 748 00:36:54,720 --> 00:36:57,410 and the cleared area, the area that I thought 749 00:36:57,410 --> 00:37:00,290 was where Davidson indicated where Ben Hall fought 750 00:37:00,290 --> 00:37:05,010 and we have no physical evidence of that. 751 00:37:07,740 --> 00:37:10,810 Because it's underground, because it's hidden, 752 00:37:10,810 --> 00:37:12,720 you never quite know what you're gonna find. 753 00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:14,330 I mean, it's part of the thrill of it I guess. 754 00:37:14,330 --> 00:37:15,700 I mean, you have to just, you have 755 00:37:15,700 --> 00:37:17,160 to take these disappointments. 756 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:17,990 - Yeah. 757 00:37:17,993 --> 00:37:19,183 - We try and minimize them. 758 00:37:19,180 --> 00:37:20,400 - It's frustrating, isn't it? 759 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,140 - Yeah, it's incredibly frustrating. 760 00:37:22,140 --> 00:37:26,030 I am almost 100% sure that the official site 761 00:37:26,030 --> 00:37:28,640 was never part of the incident. 762 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:29,890 Ben Hall didn't die there. 763 00:37:29,890 --> 00:37:31,750 I'm pretty sure about that. 764 00:37:31,750 --> 00:37:34,530 But, where he died, somewhere in this paddock. 765 00:37:34,530 --> 00:37:37,330 It could be just a meter beyond 766 00:37:37,330 --> 00:37:38,730 where we've cleared. 767 00:37:38,730 --> 00:37:41,620 It's just so tantalizing, so frustrating. 768 00:37:43,974 --> 00:37:46,024 It's just very, very disappointing. 769 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:48,810 - Well, I won't hug you. 770 00:37:48,810 --> 00:37:49,640 - No. 771 00:37:49,643 --> 00:37:50,593 - I won't throw my arms around you. 772 00:37:50,590 --> 00:37:51,810 - No, don't. 773 00:37:51,811 --> 00:37:53,081 - You might start to cry. 774 00:37:57,322 --> 00:37:59,862 (dramatic music) 775 00:37:59,860 --> 00:38:01,560 - [Narrator] But the hunt for answers 776 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:02,970 is far from over. 777 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:09,640 Kiera is meeting with Judge Greg Woods, 778 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,000 an expert in legal history. 779 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:13,400 - Let's go back to the Jubilee Room, shall we? 780 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:14,230 - Thank you. 781 00:38:14,233 --> 00:38:16,173 - [Narrator] To understand the extreme measures 782 00:38:16,170 --> 00:38:18,890 the government took to stop Ben Hall. 783 00:38:20,170 --> 00:38:25,170 - It's the 1865 Felons Apprehension Act 784 00:38:25,970 --> 00:38:29,600 and it came into law on the 8th of April 1865 785 00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,530 and it allowed the person who was declared 786 00:38:32,530 --> 00:38:35,800 to be an outlaw to be shot on sight 787 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:39,130 by anybody, policeman or any colonist. 788 00:38:39,130 --> 00:38:41,580 It was a radical change in the law. 789 00:38:41,580 --> 00:38:44,510 - You're saying that this new piece of legislation 790 00:38:44,510 --> 00:38:47,480 would allow anyone, not just a policeman, 791 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:52,010 but any man, woman or child to gun down 792 00:38:52,010 --> 00:38:53,830 those who had been declared an outlaw. 793 00:38:53,830 --> 00:38:55,130 - Well, that's absolutely right. 794 00:38:55,130 --> 00:38:57,070 - Wow, by anyone at any time. 795 00:38:57,072 --> 00:38:58,322 - By anyone at any time, 796 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:01,320 provided that the formalities had been complied with. 797 00:39:04,150 --> 00:39:06,810 - Your great grandfather led five 798 00:39:06,810 --> 00:39:08,510 other policemen and two trackers. 799 00:39:08,510 --> 00:39:10,490 Do you think they were out to capture 800 00:39:10,490 --> 00:39:12,620 Ben Hall or kill him? 801 00:39:12,620 --> 00:39:14,410 - I would think that shooting him 802 00:39:14,410 --> 00:39:17,350 would've been a possibility 803 00:39:17,351 --> 00:39:19,051 at the very least, wouldn't it? 804 00:39:19,050 --> 00:39:21,630 I don't think it was a murderous attack, 805 00:39:21,630 --> 00:39:24,800 you know, a planned execution. 806 00:39:25,900 --> 00:39:28,850 I would imagine that ideally, if they 807 00:39:28,850 --> 00:39:32,800 could have taken him prisoner, 808 00:39:32,799 --> 00:39:33,629 - Taken him alive? 809 00:39:33,632 --> 00:39:35,222 - Taken him alive, that's what they 810 00:39:35,220 --> 00:39:37,160 would have preferred to do. 811 00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,800 But, that's not what happened, is it? 812 00:39:41,610 --> 00:39:43,630 - [Narrator] It sounds as if they've lost control. 813 00:39:43,630 --> 00:39:45,930 - It's gotta be remembered that these characters 814 00:39:45,930 --> 00:39:49,400 were not particularly highly trained like police are today. 815 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,890 The issue was to get Ben Hall, shoot him straight away. 816 00:39:52,890 --> 00:39:54,670 There would have been a lot of blood lust there. 817 00:39:54,670 --> 00:39:55,810 They were sorta nervous. 818 00:39:55,810 --> 00:39:57,110 They were excitable. 819 00:39:57,110 --> 00:40:00,010 They would have been perhaps extremely tense 820 00:40:00,010 --> 00:40:01,530 and they're shooting someone, and they're 821 00:40:01,530 --> 00:40:05,000 allowed to do it apparently, and they just keep firing. 822 00:40:04,999 --> 00:40:07,419 (gun firing) 823 00:40:08,340 --> 00:40:11,580 - [Narrator] There is one final piece of the puzzle, 824 00:40:11,580 --> 00:40:14,520 what may be the only physical evidence 825 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:16,640 from the shooting of Ben Hall, 826 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,960 the museum gun belt. 827 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,250 The lead residue analysis on the belt 828 00:40:21,250 --> 00:40:23,840 revealed that it could have been shot off. 829 00:40:24,690 --> 00:40:27,910 Now Roger's preparing to shoot a replica belt 830 00:40:27,910 --> 00:40:30,790 with an antique gun to see if the shape 831 00:40:30,790 --> 00:40:33,410 of the bullet hole is a match. 832 00:40:33,410 --> 00:40:36,230 If it is, it could add support 833 00:40:36,230 --> 00:40:38,320 to the police version of the event. 834 00:40:39,159 --> 00:40:41,909 (dramatic music) 835 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:50,480 - This is really interesting. 836 00:40:50,479 --> 00:40:52,209 The belt didn't fall off. 837 00:40:52,210 --> 00:40:53,040 Does that surprise me? 838 00:40:53,043 --> 00:40:53,883 No it doesn't. 839 00:40:53,876 --> 00:40:55,566 I think that would be too much to hope for. 840 00:40:55,569 --> 00:40:56,739 The belt's made of different leather. 841 00:40:56,740 --> 00:40:58,210 Who knows what condition this was in? 842 00:40:58,210 --> 00:41:00,200 This one's a little wider and maybe a little thicker. 843 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:02,690 The important point to me is we've got 844 00:41:02,690 --> 00:41:05,570 this oval hole and it's sloped 845 00:41:05,570 --> 00:41:07,540 on that side and that's exactly 846 00:41:07,540 --> 00:41:08,800 what this one does. 847 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,360 And that tells us where the shooter was standing. 848 00:41:11,359 --> 00:41:13,239 (gun firing) 849 00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:14,410 - [Roger] That's a significant shot 850 00:41:14,410 --> 00:41:16,440 because it's going near the kidney. 851 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:18,640 It's going near all the vessels that go to the kidney. 852 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,360 You've got big veins, the inferior vena cava, 853 00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:23,240 you have the aorta, the stomach. 854 00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:24,400 It's gonna make a mess. 855 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:25,970 It may have even gone into the liver. 856 00:41:25,970 --> 00:41:27,500 - [Narrator] So, could that have been the kill shot? 857 00:41:27,500 --> 00:41:29,350 - [Roger] Yeah, that's a lethal shot. 858 00:41:31,110 --> 00:41:32,730 - [Narrator] Our evidence from the belt testing 859 00:41:32,730 --> 00:41:35,650 does support the official police version 860 00:41:35,650 --> 00:41:38,370 of the killing and the key wounds 861 00:41:38,370 --> 00:41:40,650 documented in the medical report. 862 00:41:43,690 --> 00:41:45,830 - [Roger] It's just overkill really. 863 00:41:45,830 --> 00:41:48,370 He's had so many shots put into him. 864 00:41:48,370 --> 00:41:50,060 The gelatin actually is a bit of a problem 865 00:41:50,060 --> 00:41:52,420 because it does hold its shape very well. 866 00:41:52,420 --> 00:41:55,540 If this was actually flesh and bone 867 00:41:55,540 --> 00:41:57,700 it would be ripped, torn. 868 00:41:57,700 --> 00:41:59,330 He may have even been dead 869 00:41:59,330 --> 00:42:01,140 when he hit the ground in the saplings. 870 00:42:01,140 --> 00:42:02,700 And so, they emptied their guns 871 00:42:02,703 --> 00:42:04,913 when he was already dead. 872 00:42:04,910 --> 00:42:07,030 But I mean, this was an execution. 873 00:42:09,090 --> 00:42:12,010 (dramatic music) 874 00:42:12,010 --> 00:42:14,410 - [Narrator] It was a brutal death, but according 875 00:42:14,410 --> 00:42:17,070 to the law of that time it was legal. 876 00:42:18,230 --> 00:42:19,550 But, what if there was evidence 877 00:42:19,550 --> 00:42:22,630 to suggest that in fact, it was not legal? 878 00:42:26,509 --> 00:42:29,539 (dramatic music) 879 00:42:29,540 --> 00:42:32,760 After three years of robberies and raids 880 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,770 police finally close in on the notorious 881 00:42:35,770 --> 00:42:37,040 bushranger, Ben Hall. 882 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,450 He's ambushed and killed at a time 883 00:42:42,450 --> 00:42:45,230 when the law apparently allowed any person 884 00:42:45,230 --> 00:42:46,620 to shoot him on sight. 885 00:42:48,350 --> 00:42:50,960 But were the police actually within their rights 886 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:52,810 to shoot him at all? 887 00:42:52,810 --> 00:42:55,230 - According to the Wednesday, 10 May 888 00:42:55,230 --> 00:42:58,550 Government Gazette in 1865, it's clear 889 00:42:58,550 --> 00:43:02,740 that Hall was not an outlaw because the formalities 890 00:43:02,740 --> 00:43:06,500 of the process required under the Felons Apprehension Act, 891 00:43:06,500 --> 00:43:08,320 had not been completed. 892 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:10,500 The law required a further step, 893 00:43:10,500 --> 00:43:13,380 proclamation published in the Government Gazette 894 00:43:13,380 --> 00:43:16,250 and that simply hadn't happened by the 5th of May. 895 00:43:16,250 --> 00:43:19,500 - Ben Hall hadn't been legally declared an outlaw. 896 00:43:19,500 --> 00:43:21,070 - Then Davidson would not have had 897 00:43:21,069 --> 00:43:23,199 the protection of the Act. 898 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:25,570 - So, what do you think about the way 899 00:43:25,570 --> 00:43:28,690 the police emptied their guns into him 900 00:43:28,690 --> 00:43:31,490 in those final moments as he was dying? 901 00:43:31,490 --> 00:43:32,480 - He's not fleeing anymore. 902 00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:34,610 The police were not allowed to shoot him 903 00:43:34,610 --> 00:43:39,270 and if in fact, he was killed by those shots 904 00:43:39,270 --> 00:43:42,800 that occurred after he was fallen to the ground, 905 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:44,790 then that was murder. 906 00:43:44,790 --> 00:43:49,360 - Hmmm, that's very powerful. 907 00:43:51,229 --> 00:43:53,809 (gentle music) 908 00:43:56,550 --> 00:43:59,640 When Ben Hall died it came to signal 909 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:02,450 the end of bushranging in New South Wales. 910 00:44:05,890 --> 00:44:07,320 The tide had turned. 911 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,580 The law now had the upper hand 912 00:44:09,580 --> 00:44:14,460 and it was no longer going to be a fun business, 913 00:44:14,460 --> 00:44:18,540 being a bushranger, under the new terms. 914 00:44:18,540 --> 00:44:20,920 And what that meant in broader terms 915 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:25,260 for society is that law had won over lawlessness. 916 00:44:29,750 --> 00:44:31,700 - [Narrator] The legacy of Ben Hall's death 917 00:44:31,700 --> 00:44:34,050 continues to resonate today. 918 00:44:35,540 --> 00:44:38,690 And now, for the first time descendants 919 00:44:38,690 --> 00:44:42,300 from both sides of the story are coming together 920 00:44:42,300 --> 00:44:45,380 to learn what the Lawless Team has uncovered. 921 00:44:51,301 --> 00:44:52,131 - Hey Peter. 922 00:44:52,134 --> 00:44:52,974 - Hello, Mike. 923 00:44:52,967 --> 00:44:53,877 - Good to see you again, man. 924 00:44:53,879 --> 00:44:54,719 - Good to see you. 925 00:44:54,720 --> 00:44:57,020 - Yeah, yeah, gonna be a very interesting day today. 926 00:44:57,020 --> 00:44:58,500 - Gonna be a wonderful day, 927 00:44:58,500 --> 00:45:00,730 but there's rather a lot of flies. 928 00:45:00,730 --> 00:45:02,810 - There are, I've already swallowed two of them. 929 00:45:02,810 --> 00:45:04,820 (laughing) 930 00:45:04,821 --> 00:45:05,651 - Hey Rupert. 931 00:45:05,654 --> 00:45:06,494 - Goodday. 932 00:45:06,487 --> 00:45:07,317 How are you mate? 933 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:08,150 - I'm good, how are you? 934 00:45:08,153 --> 00:45:08,993 - Good, thank you. 935 00:45:08,986 --> 00:45:09,816 - Rupert Ward, Peter Bradley. 936 00:45:09,819 --> 00:45:13,049 Peter is the great great nephew of Ben Hall 937 00:45:13,050 --> 00:45:15,250 and Rupert is the great grandson 938 00:45:15,250 --> 00:45:17,550 of Sub Inspector Davidson who led 939 00:45:17,550 --> 00:45:19,930 the charge against your great great uncle. 940 00:45:19,930 --> 00:45:21,080 - Wonderful to meet you. 941 00:45:21,077 --> 00:45:24,837 You know, I've never met anyone from that side at all. 942 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:26,170 - No, well I haven't either. 943 00:45:26,167 --> 00:45:27,867 - And you've never been out here? 944 00:45:27,867 --> 00:45:32,167 - Never seen it, so it's a real moment. 945 00:45:32,170 --> 00:45:33,530 - Wonderful, thank you. 946 00:45:37,530 --> 00:45:39,130 - [Narrator] It's time for the descendants 947 00:45:39,130 --> 00:45:40,760 to meet the Lawless Team. 948 00:45:42,170 --> 00:45:43,670 These are our headquarters here, gentlemen, 949 00:45:43,670 --> 00:45:44,500 in the tent. 950 00:45:46,940 --> 00:45:47,990 - Hi guys, how are you. 951 00:45:47,992 --> 00:45:49,352 - This is our descendants. 952 00:45:49,350 --> 00:45:52,700 - [Narrator] Their mission began with a key question. 953 00:45:52,700 --> 00:45:54,800 How was Ben Hall killed? 954 00:45:56,290 --> 00:45:58,010 It's great having you all here. 955 00:45:58,010 --> 00:46:00,110 You've been digging, you've been analyzing, 956 00:46:00,110 --> 00:46:01,630 you've been researching. 957 00:46:01,630 --> 00:46:03,040 What are your conclusions? 958 00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,690 - This official site is not the site 959 00:46:05,690 --> 00:46:08,380 where Ben Hall was killed. 960 00:46:08,380 --> 00:46:10,360 Unfortunately, we didn't find this. 961 00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:13,530 I am still convinced that somewhere 962 00:46:13,530 --> 00:46:16,890 underneath that drying lupin is 963 00:46:16,890 --> 00:46:19,500 the physical evidence of this event. 964 00:46:19,500 --> 00:46:20,800 I just think that maybe we just 965 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:22,500 chose the wrong spot. 966 00:46:22,500 --> 00:46:24,980 But, that's archeology. 967 00:46:24,979 --> 00:46:27,139 - There are things in this case 968 00:46:27,141 --> 00:46:29,321 that make us think that there were times 969 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:33,540 when the lawful men slip over the line 970 00:46:33,540 --> 00:46:35,720 and behave in a way that's lawless. 971 00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:37,670 - And this brings us to the whole issue 972 00:46:37,670 --> 00:46:39,570 of was this overkill? 973 00:46:39,570 --> 00:46:42,200 And I think if you look at Sub Inspector Davidson's 974 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:45,860 letter to his father, he says he lost control of his men 975 00:46:45,860 --> 00:46:48,520 and these are frightened men. 976 00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:50,080 Hall and his gang were very dangerous. 977 00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:51,220 They killed policemen, 978 00:46:51,220 --> 00:46:52,690 actually they hated them. 979 00:46:52,690 --> 00:46:54,930 I think there's a lot of emotion involved here. 980 00:46:54,930 --> 00:46:57,960 And I think that that really explained what happened. 981 00:46:59,679 --> 00:47:02,429 (dramatic music) 982 00:47:07,390 --> 00:47:09,690 - [Narrator] The story that tracker, Billy Dargin, 983 00:47:09,690 --> 00:47:13,850 shot Ben Hall in his sleep is the least likely version 984 00:47:13,850 --> 00:47:16,050 of how Ben Hall died. 985 00:47:16,050 --> 00:47:17,820 It remains folklore. 986 00:47:20,770 --> 00:47:24,570 The evidence supports the official police account. 987 00:47:24,570 --> 00:47:27,490 Ben Hall was ambushed by Sub Inspector Davidson's 988 00:47:27,490 --> 00:47:29,880 police party and tried to escape. 989 00:47:32,420 --> 00:47:35,880 Whether Davidson called on Hall to surrender, 990 00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:39,350 or if Hall was holding a gun, is unknown. 991 00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:45,210 According to Davidson, he, Sargent James Condle 992 00:47:45,210 --> 00:47:48,250 and Billy Dargin fired the first shots. 993 00:47:49,890 --> 00:47:53,800 Our testing showed the wounds match his medical report. 994 00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:59,330 Ben Hall went into the path 995 00:47:59,330 --> 00:48:02,630 of five more of his men, all firing. 996 00:48:04,950 --> 00:48:07,550 Our evidence supports the police testimony 997 00:48:07,550 --> 00:48:09,690 that Hall was shot in the side 998 00:48:09,690 --> 00:48:10,860 through his gun belt. 999 00:48:16,150 --> 00:48:19,750 According to Davidson, his men emptied their guns 1000 00:48:19,750 --> 00:48:21,140 into Hall's body. 1001 00:48:22,130 --> 00:48:25,800 Those final actions were beyond the law. 1002 00:48:30,420 --> 00:48:32,670 - It's got execution written all over it. 1003 00:48:32,670 --> 00:48:34,540 That's how it sounds. 1004 00:48:34,540 --> 00:48:36,310 And it is overkill. 1005 00:48:36,310 --> 00:48:38,160 - These men could've been charged with murder 1006 00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:39,080 for what they did. 1007 00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:42,900 I think this is very sobering. 1008 00:48:42,900 --> 00:48:45,200 - If he hadn't been stopped there would have been 1009 00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:48,810 more victims and many of the victims of Ben Hall 1010 00:48:48,810 --> 00:48:53,810 were drovers, farm workers, bar, people who worked 1011 00:48:55,650 --> 00:48:56,790 in pubs and bars. 1012 00:48:57,789 --> 00:48:58,899 He was no Robin Hood. 1013 00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:02,340 - No one's ever said he's Robin Hood. 1014 00:49:02,340 --> 00:49:06,450 You could almost say he deserved to be stopped, 1015 00:49:07,590 --> 00:49:09,580 perhaps not in that fashion. 1016 00:49:10,461 --> 00:49:13,041 (gentle music) 1017 00:49:20,490 --> 00:49:24,810 That's closure for us to have the confirmation 1018 00:49:24,810 --> 00:49:28,320 that the police version of events was 1019 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:32,070 almost undoubtedly the correct version. 1020 00:49:32,070 --> 00:49:35,780 To have that resolved is particularly rewarding. 1021 00:49:35,780 --> 00:49:39,790 - I certainly can express a sentiment of regret 1022 00:49:39,790 --> 00:49:42,170 at the loss that your family suffered 1023 00:49:43,670 --> 00:49:48,150 and I can see how what happened 1024 00:49:48,150 --> 00:49:50,300 to my great grandfather must have been 1025 00:49:50,300 --> 00:49:52,520 a defining moment in his life 1026 00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:54,570 and probably shaped the rest of his life. 1027 00:50:00,630 --> 00:50:04,310 - There will always be questions about what happened 1028 00:50:04,310 --> 00:50:08,390 on that bitterly cold morning when Ben Hall was killed. 1029 00:50:08,390 --> 00:50:12,450 But what we do know now is that this was the moment 1030 00:50:12,450 --> 00:50:15,870 when the line between the lawful and the lawless 1031 00:50:16,750 --> 00:50:19,200 became profoundly blurred. 1032 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,060 The killing of Ben Hall was the beginning of the end 1033 00:50:22,060 --> 00:50:24,780 of the bushranging era in New South Wales, 1034 00:50:24,780 --> 00:50:27,450 but it certainly wasn't the end of lawlessness. 1035 00:50:27,450 --> 00:50:31,860 It was just one bloody step in our nation's journey 1036 00:50:31,860 --> 00:50:33,590 to strive for law and order. 1037 00:50:38,268 --> 00:50:41,018 (dramatic music) 1038 00:50:54,529 --> 00:50:57,099 ♪ You say I am a murderer ♪ 1039 00:50:57,096 --> 00:51:00,036 ♪ You killed me in my sleep ♪ 1040 00:51:00,037 --> 00:51:02,747 ♪ Hide behind that policeman's badge ♪ 1041 00:51:02,748 --> 00:51:05,868 ♪ And grip your judge's hand ♪ 1042 00:51:05,868 --> 00:51:08,738 ♪ I'll hunt you down and cut you up ♪ 1043 00:51:08,735 --> 00:51:12,895 ♪ We'll see who's judgment stands ♪